


Dead Man Clinging

by YukinaZero



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood: Lost Days, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Crime Boss Jason Todd, Father-Son Relationship, Fix-It, Gen, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd-centric, Light Angst, Profanity, Reconciliation, humor?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23986147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukinaZero/pseuds/YukinaZero
Summary: No, he still had something. He might be dead on the inside, but he still had one last thing to cling to. The Alley for all it’s many, many imperfections never turned it’s back on one of its own. After all, who were they to judge? They were all just like him. Lost in their own way and more than a little bit crazy.“This just is a mysterious benefactor who has donated a very generous sum of 1.5 million dollars to the Park Row school district. I’m being told by my producers I have to use the official name but, let's be honest, everyone calls it Crime Alley anyway.”Now in Russian! : https://ficbook.net/readfic/10209354/26270596  A big thanks to the lovely AniLightKey for translating.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd & Crime Alley, Jason Todd & Original Character(s)
Comments: 38
Kudos: 316
Collections: Redhood Stories





	Dead Man Clinging

**Author's Note:**

> Edited: July 29, 2020

When Batman slit his throat, he killed him. Not physically of course. His body was too hardened after years of abuse to give out after just that but-

“Earlier today The Batman was reported fighting the Joker and Gotham’s latest crime lord Red Hood from the city rooftops. After a brief encounter the Joker was apprehended and returned to Arkham. Looks like we’ll have to wait till the next rouge breaks out for some real action folks.” 

He had nothing left now. Well, looking at the mountains of drug money littering his safe house he knew that wasn’t exactly true but, he had nothing important left. Batman had taken away the Joker. He had taken away Robin. He had even taken away his fathe-

“Citizens are warned to still be wary because the Red Hood, although suffering from severe injuries, is still at large. Although, in this city, if you aren't already cautious at all times you probably deserve to die.”

No he still had something. He might be dead on the inside, but he still had one last thing to cling to. The Alley for all it’s many, many imperfections never turned it’s back on one of its own. After all, who were they to judge? They were all just like him. Lost in their own way and, more than a little bit crazy.

“This just is a mysterious benefactor who has donated a very generous sum of 1.5 million dollars to the Park Row school district. I’m being told by my producers I have to use the official name but, let's be honest, everyone calls it Crime Alley anyway.”

After his wounds healed he paid a visit to all of his underlings. Made sure that they were all following the rules and, to those that weren’t-

“The Mysterious benefactor strikes again. This time they delivered an even more handsome sum of 2.3 million dollars to Crime Alley hospitals and local clinics. The anonymity of these donations have a lot of people puzzling over what the flying fuck is going on. I mean come on, they haven’t even claimed the added tax benefit or pulled a publicity stunt!” 

He stopped leaving Crime Alley while out on patrol. Sure the Bat and his flock were still after him but, this part of the city was his now. Regardless of if the people respected or feared him, they were all loyal. Though it was the change in the way that they all began to look at him that made him suspect. That maybe, they knew what he was trying to do. Maybe, somewhere deep down some of them even started to hope-

“Once again, Crime Alley’s Sugar Daddy Angel shines down upon them. This time giving a whopping 5 million to orphanages, homeless shelters and some public safety groups. As the money keeps growing, so does Gotham’s suspicion.”

He had put the smartest of his minions, Natalia in charge of keeping all the gangs in line and reporting to him if anyone needed to be taken care of. She was ruthlessly efficient at her job and seemed to grow more loyal with each passing day, though for the life of him he couldn’t understand why. Really, the only reason he had even noticed her in the first place was because she had been the only one brave enough to speak out against him when he had still been a rampaging maniac. So, he had never seen it coming when she and a couple of hundred other’s knelt down before him, kissed his hand an-

“As the money into Crime Alley keeps flowing, now expanding to domestic abuse programs and other public help centers rumors are running rampant around the City. Most popular among these rumors is that The Alley’s benefactor is actually none other than the infamous Crime Lord, the Red Hood himself.” 

“At this time the Police have not yet released a statement about these accusations but let's be real. Have you been to Crime Alley recently? These people think he’s the next coming of Jesus!”

Somewhere along the line he had become a mafia boss. When the hell did that happen? Was it even possible to become a Mafia Boss by accident? One moment he had been flying across rooftops beating up wannabe criminals and the next- 

Natalia dropped another stack of papers on his desk. When did he get a desk? All of the local gangs had dissolved and pledged allegiance to the Red Hood clan. He had a clan now. What was he even supposed to do with them? He had had to move out of his old hideouts, and make a real fortified base too. The only real benefit of this was that now he could finally stop looking over his shoulder every few minutes, expecting the Bats to break down his window. Plus Natalia did most of the paper work anyway.

“Crime Alley’s graduation and employment rates have all doubled, some even tripled in the last few months and, amazingly, Park Row has started just toing the poverty line. The police however do not seem to be as overjoyed by this knowledge as the city and have issued an arrest warrant for the new CEO of Red Capital, Jason Grace. A newly established business that seems to be the source of these mysterious donations. As a response Crime Alley citizens have started to riot. Seriously, what did they think was going to happen?”

Jason was in awe and, a little bit annoyed, but mostly in awe. The people of Crime Alley now looked at him in adortion both with and without the hood. Sure the police kept trying to arrest him even though everything he had done so far on paper was legal. Well, there was the stuff off the paper but they couldn’t prove any of that and everyone knew it. 

That Man also kept sending invitations for the new hero of Crime Alley, Jason Grace to come to one of his Gala’s. It frustrated Jason because he knew for a fact That Man was aware of his true identity. After all, he had made no effort in trying to hide his true identity from him with Grace being his mother’s maiden name. It just aggravated him that he couldn’t understand what That Man wanted from him now. Hadn’t he taken enough already?

He looked around at all the people that respected and would lay down their lives for him and thought maybe, just maybe, this is what it felt like to be saf-

“This just in after an entire year of unnerving, freaky as hell silence the Joker has once again escaped Arkham and is currently leading a terrorist bombing against Crime Alley-

Wait, i’m getting a live up dates now that the Red Hood has just arrived at the scene and is casually strolling up to the Joker-

The Batman has yet to be seen and-

-Oh My God”

.

.

.

.

“At 3:32 pm today Arthur Fletcher, better known by his public nickname That Fucken Clown, oops sorry I meant The Joker was officially declared dead at Gotham General Hospital. ”

“I’m sure this comes as a surprise to no one that saw the footage earlier today of the Red Hood mercilessly shooting the Joker 3 times in the head. After which, he continued to shoot the soon-to-be-corpse until he ran out of bullets and then walked away from the scene. I think we all know the real question here is how that god damn cockroach managed to stay alive until he got to the hospital.”

“Predictably people are flooding the streets and throwing parades to celebrate the villains' demises. Murals of the Red Hood seem to be Graffited across every inch of Crime Alley and, everyone in the city seems to have been given a day off to enjoy the festivities. Everyone except me of course, swear I don’t get paid enough for this shit.”

“Police, who had been previously preparing for a rise in crime due to the new power vacuum received pleasant surprises in the aftermate today. It seems the Red Hood has already claimed all of the Joker's assets and declared a city wide peace between all gangs with his new authority as Gotham’s most powerful Crime Lord. Jesus, he might actually be Jesus.”

.

.

.

.

“Good Evening my few Gothamites. I am glad that you could join me today on this historic event. As of 3 weeks ago Crime Alley has for the first time in recorded history managed to surpass the poverty line and to the surprise of literally everyone, managed to stay there. Today Gotham’s very own mayor that I-didn’t-even-know-we-had gave a speech honoring Jason Grace the cities’ new savior for all his charitable work. Why don’t we just make him mayor instead, seeing as how he accomplished everything the mayor campaigned on?”

Jason knew it was inevitable of course. No one could run from the Batman forever, especially not in his own city. He did like to think he put up a good fight though, seeing as how today marks the two year anniversary of the day he slit his throat. 

If Jason was being honest he could probably still be on the run for a few more months if he wanted; but he didn’t. He was tired. Of all the rage and anticipation. Of all the fear and regrets. He was tired of playing this endless game of hide and seek.

If the hunch in his shoulders and the dark bags under his eyes were anything to go by, so was the gloomy figure sitting in his living room. Having given all the security staff a vacation this week was a great idea he decided. 

Ironically enough, he had just come home after a meeting with Natalia about how terrible that exact same idea was, when he found him. Well, really he had just gone up the stairs seeing as he lived on the top floor of the Red Capital building but that's besides the point. That Man was sitting in full Batman regalia, with the Cowl off on his couch. 

They stared at each other for a long time until finally “Jay-lad…” 

The older man’s voice trailed off. Jason had never seen him look so vulnerable before and Jason couldn't help but think his face must look the same.

“Hi dad.”

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.

.

“This is unprofessional news, signing off.”

**Author's Note:**

> I didn’t know how to explain all of this in the story so I just decided to put it here. In my headcanon Jason and Bruce shared a much stronger relationship then in Cannon, so much so that Jason refers to Brice as father even in his head. The reason why this story diverges from cannon so much is because Bruce’s betrayal was just that much more heartbreaking in Jason’s eyes. If you notice that Jason calls Bruce That Man a few times in the story it’s because he can’t bring himself to call him dad, when he thinks Bruce disowned him. Poor Bruce :( He just wants his family to be safe and happy and I keep making him the bad guy. In my defense, he kind of sucks at parenting. This story was originally a lot darker but I was sick of writing emo content so I made the reporter really quirky, and I hope that somebody at least gets a laugh out of it.


End file.
